This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order
presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution
to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about
permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Fashion Cares takes its final bow

After 25 years, Fashion Cares, the legendary AIDS fundraising event that brought together celebrity culture, a spectacular (and spectacularly outrageous) fashion show and an after-party at which several thousand people took to the floor, is calling it quits.

When Elton John belts out the final note, the last model exits the stage, the curtain drops and the lights dim at the Sony Centre on Sept. 9, an end of an era will come to a close.

“The days of the mega fundraiser is fading,” acknowledges Michael King, co-chair of Fashion Cares. “I think this is a natural milestone to end on.”

The first Fashion Cares was held in 1987 at the Diamond nightclub on Sherbourne Street, mounted by members of Toronto’s fashion and arts community, which was being decimated by AIDS.

The life expectancy for someone with HIV was probably 11 months back then and the need for a fundraiser to raise awareness was urgent, says King.

“Today, people with HIV are living full lives but their lives are still complicated and not easy,” he adds. “I’m sure the event will live on in a different guise but a giant spectacle with 3,000 people sitting down for dinner seems passé.”

Fashion Care, it goes without saying, has always been an important fundraising event for the AIDS Committee of Toronto. But Hazelle Palmer, executive director for ACT, also agrees the time has come to do something different.

“It’s a different time and we have to find new ways of raising awareness of HIV and AIDS,” she says, including finding new community partners.

These days, ACT fundraisers tend to focus on smaller events like the annual AIDS Walk and SNAP — a photography auction involving notable galleries and photographers.

And nobody is surprised ACT has decided it’s time to move on. While this will be the last Fashion Cares, the annual event has been on hiatus since 2008. Palmer says the organization is still pondering what kind of fundraising event will replace Fashion Cares.

“Obviously AIDS is still a huge issue and we want to continue to get that message out,” she says.

Dinner tables for the event are sold out but a final batch of tickets for the show and cocktail party at the Sony Centre will go on sale at Ticketmaster. commend on Aug. 29.

In addition to Elton John, the headliner, the evening will also feature performances by Scissors Sisters, Janelle Monae and Sky Ferreira. The evening will be hosted by Linda Evangelista and Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared.

Get some good advice in your inbox

Read expert life and relationship advice with the Star's weekly Advice email newsletter.

More from The Star & Partners

More Life

Top Stories

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All
rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto
Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of
Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com